Popularly described as SABIC Technical Meetings (STMs) in the petrochemical world, STM-9 will last till Wednesday. Senior SABIC executives, presidents of local and international companies, researchers and scientists attended the opening ceremony.
Talking to Arab News, STM-9 Chairman Abdul Rahman S. Al-Ubaid said: "These scientific meetings are held every two years to discuss ways and means of enhancing the technical performance of our industries and stimulating innovation in the work environment."
SABIC technical meetings have become prominent events ever since they were first started in 1994. "Since their inception, they have become an ideal platform for collaborative meetings among scientists, researchers, chemists, engineers and technical experts from SABIC affiliates," said Al-Ubaid.
"This is the ninth of a series of SABIC Technical Meetings and its exhibition will provide an ideal opportunity for all of us to meet with the very best talents in our business," he said. "It will remind ourselves of our collective strengths and will demonstrate the power we can harness as a family of organizations."
During the meeting, SABIC professionals are expected to exchange knowledge through a technical program featuring keynote speakers from the Kingdom and abroad.
The meeting will review a number of research papers from SABIC affiliates and research centers within and outside the Kingdom. This will be in addition to research papers from exhibitors. These papers will address a number of vital issues covering manufacturing processes, products, assets management, control systems, safety, health and environment, quality assurance and analytic researches.
SABIC ranks among the world's top 6 petrochemical companies and is the largest nonoil company in the Middle East. It was founded in 1976 to capitalize on the country's hydrocarbon and mineral resources, to bring in advanced technology, and to qualify national manpower. The Saudi government owns 70 percent of SABIC shares while the rest is held by private investors.
SABIC has more than 20 industrial complexes in Jubail and Yanbu and has interests in regional ventures based in Bahrain. In 2009, its overall production reached nearly 60 million metric tons of chemicals, polymers, fertilizers, iron and steel, and is expected to touch 130 million metric tons in 2020.
